The present invention relates to an improved collector leaf for a harvesting machine of the type utilized to harvest grapes and other produce which is shaken from a vine or bush and which drops onto collector leaves mounted on the harvester.
By way of background, in the harvesting of grapes and other products, such as blueberries, a machine having an inverted U-shaped frame is driven along rows of plants, and harvesting mechanism on the machine shakes the fruit from the plants. The fruit falls on inclined collector leaves and slides onto conveyors which carry the harvested fruit off of the machine. A machine of this type is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,134,251.
The harvesting leaves on the prior art machine were of a predetermined peripheral contour such that when these leaves deflected to permit the machine to pass the trunks of the plants and the posts of the trellises, relatively large open spaces were formed in the immediate area surrounding the trunks and the posts, and harvested fruit fell through these open spaces onto the ground and was lost. Relative to grapes, calculations have shown that for a 600 acre harvesting area, the value of grapes lost per season amounted to well in excess of $100,000 at current market values. It is with an improved collector leaf construction which overcomes the foregoing shortcomings and which produces a very substantial saving of harvested fruit that the present invention is concerned.